Earlier in the segment, Ambassador Nicholas Burns said that we needed to give Obama a break because as president, he works really hard seven days a week.

Burns also defended Obama’s response to the terrorist attack in Brussels saying that Obama’s call to the prime minister was appropriate and staying at the baseball game in Cuba was great for relations.

Burns also said that Obama visiting Argentina and participating in the impromptu dance would probably open up relations with the community of nations since the country had withdrawn themselves.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/politics/andrea-mitchell-impressed-obama-tango/feed/0The Obama Tangohttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/the-obama-tango/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/the-obama-tango/#respondThu, 24 Mar 2016 15:19:30 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=582160The post The Obama Tango appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
]]>While Brussels, Belgium, was attacked with Islamic State bombs that killed at least 31 people and injured hundreds this week, President Obama watched baseball with Raul Castro in Cuba and did the tango in Argentina.

Obama, who was in Cuba at the time of the attack, devoted little time to talking about the attack when he spoke to reporters. After Obama left Cuba, he traveled to Argentina where he was seen doing the tango at a State Dinner.

“I was critical yesterday, I think of the optics of the baseball game. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have gone, I feel like it should have been handled differently, everything about it,” host Mika Brzezinski said.

“The advance person who let him do the tango, that person ought to be looking for work on somebody’s campaign very, very far away. That was a tremendous mistake,” said Richard Haas, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Guest co-host Nicolle Wallace was less kind to Obama.

“I think Michael Hayden offered the best explanation for it. These were not advance staff gaffes, I mean it’s so easy to blame the staff, that’s not who this was. This was Obama’s policy choice. His policy choice was to proceed with everything on his schedule and not to react to the threat of terrorism, and that is his prerogative,” Wallace said.

“It puts him vastly out of step with the entire American public, not just Republicans. You heard Democrats yesterday, increasingly uncomfortable with the choices he makes at a moment of crisis.”

]]>http://freebeacon.com/politics/morning-joe-panel-hits-obama-poor-brussels-response-dancing-argentina/feed/0One Day After ISIS Takes Credit for Brussels Attack, Obama Says ISIS ‘Not an Existential Threat’http://freebeacon.com/national-security/day-after-isis-brussels-attack-obama-says-isis-not-existential-threat/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/day-after-isis-brussels-attack-obama-says-isis-not-existential-threat/#respondWed, 23 Mar 2016 17:31:47 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=581737The post One Day After ISIS Takes Credit for Brussels Attack, Obama Says ISIS ‘Not an Existential Threat’ appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
]]>President Barack Obama told reporters Wednesday that the Islamic State does not pose an existential threat to the United States one day after the jihadist group claimed responsibility for the deadly terror attacks in Brussels, Belgium.

“Groups like [ISIS] can’t destroy us; they can’t defeat us; they don’t produce anything,” Obama said at a joint press conference with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri during a state visit.

“They’re not an existential threat to us,” Obama said.

The president’s comments come the day after ISIS carried out coordinated terror attacks in Brussels, the capital of the European Union, killing at least 31 people and wounding over 200 others.

Obama has received much criticism from both sides of the political aisle for choosing to attend a baseball game in Cuba after the attacks rather than return to Washington to handle the aftermath of the violence. He spent 51 seconds acknowledging the attack during formal remarks the same day to an audience in Cuba.

Critics say the president does not recognize the severity of the threat ISIS poses to the West and that he needs to rethink his strategy to defeat the jihadist group.

Obama also underwent scrutiny late last year for saying that ISIS was ‘contained’ the day before it launched coordinated attacks in Paris, which resulted in 130 deaths.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/national-security/day-after-isis-brussels-attack-obama-says-isis-not-existential-threat/feed/0Documentary Delves Into Murder of Argentine Prosecutorhttp://freebeacon.com/issues/documentary-delves-into-murder-of-argentine-prosecutor/
http://freebeacon.com/issues/documentary-delves-into-murder-of-argentine-prosecutor/#respondThu, 01 Oct 2015 19:18:20 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=494317A new documentary seeks to investigate the mysterious death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found shot to death last January while investigating an Iran-linked terror attack and Argentine government cover-up.

]]>A new documentary seeks to investigate the mysterious death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found shot to death last January while investigating an Iran-linked terror attack and Argentine government cover-up.

Los Abandonados, which was directed by Matthew Taylor and premiered on Wednesday, traces the story of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center and a prosecutor’s quest for justice in the face of pressure from his own government and threats from Iran’s terror network.

Nisman spent 10 years leading Argentina’s investigation of the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, a probe that was never completed.

The 1994 attack killed 85 and is believed to have been carried out by Hezbollah under orders from Tehran. Nisman began quietly compiling evidence two years ago that Argentine President Christina Kirchner had agreed to whitewash Iran’s leading role in the attack in exchange for a lucrative trade deal.

Nisman was found dead in his apartment hours before he was scheduled to present his findings against Kirchner to the Argentine congress. Kirchner and her allies initially claimed Nisman had committed suicide. Forensic evidence later indicated that he was murdered.

But like the AMIA investigation, attempts to discover the truth behind Nisman’s death have been stalled by the chaotic and often-corrupt Argentine justice system.

The film premiered at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., and included interviews with Argentine officials, journalists, and colleagues of Nisman.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/issues/documentary-delves-into-murder-of-argentine-prosecutor/feed/0Argentines Remember 1992 Bombing of Israeli Embassyhttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentines-remember-1992-bombing-of-israeli-embassy/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentines-remember-1992-bombing-of-israeli-embassy/#respondWed, 18 Mar 2015 13:20:05 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=402070Survivors and family members of those killed in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina gathered on Tuesday in a memorial square where the building once stood, Israel Hayom reports.

]]>Survivors and family members of those killed in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina gathered on Tuesday in a memorial square where the building once stood, Israel Hayom reports.

On March 17, 1992, a truck bomb ripped through the Israeli embassy, killing 29 people and wounding hundreds.

Twenty-three years later the crime remains unresolved. […]

Islamic Jihad in Lebanon, believed to be linked to Iran and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, has claimed responsibility for the 1992 bombing.

In 1994, two years after the embassy bombing, a truck bomb exploded at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and wounding hundreds. Both attacks remain unresolved and have sparked outrage among Argentines who are denouncing the slow pace of justice.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentines-remember-1992-bombing-of-israeli-embassy/feed/0CBS: Massive Protest in Argentina One Month After Nisman Murder, ‘Possible Terrorism Coverup’http://freebeacon.com/issues/cbs-massive-protest-in-argentina-one-month-after-nisman-murder-possible-terrorism-coverup/
http://freebeacon.com/issues/cbs-massive-protest-in-argentina-one-month-after-nisman-murder-possible-terrorism-coverup/#respondThu, 19 Feb 2015 15:09:37 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=393457The post CBS: Massive Protest in Argentina One Month After Nisman Murder, ‘Possible Terrorism Coverup’ appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
]]>The Argentine government is under new pressure as massive protests erupt one month after the death of Alberto Nisman. Nisman was investigating the countries largest terrorist attack on a Jewish community center that killed hundreds.

As part of his investigation, Nisman had begun to suspect a possible government coverup of an Iranian agent. President Cristina Kirchner had first said that Nisman’s death was a suicide but has since changed her story to say it was a rogue agency. Nisman was shot in the head one day before issuing a warrant for Kirchner’s arrest.

Solidarity protests have appeared throughout the United States, most notably in New York City in front of the Argentine consulate. On Wednesday, Kirchner told the world to “butt out” of the investigation.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/issues/cbs-massive-protest-in-argentina-one-month-after-nisman-murder-possible-terrorism-coverup/feed/0Ellison’s Must Read of the Dayhttp://freebeacon.com/blog/ellisons-must-read-of-the-day-nisman-death/
Tue, 27 Jan 2015 18:20:46 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?post_type=blog&p=384847My must read of the day, “Argentinian government moves to dissolve domestic intelligence agency,” in the Guardian.

Argentina’s president announced a major shakeup of her country’s intelligence network on Monday in her most combative step yet to address the fallout from the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman.

In her first televised address since the prosecutor’s body was found at his apartment on 18 January, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said she would support a bill to dissolve the existing structure—which employs more than 2,000 people—and replace it with a new federal intelligence agency.

Alberto Nisman had a 289-page report that he said showed the Iranian and Argentine government colluded in covering up Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos, Aires, that left 85 people dead.

Nisman says he had this evidence, and less than a week later he’s killed hours before he was scheduled to present the report to the Argentine Congress.

First, investigators said the death was likely suicide and a third party wasn’t involved. They said the door to his apartment was locked from the inside and a single bullet, fired from a gun that was to lent to him by a friend, killed Nisman.

But then, there were questions as to whether or not the door was locked, and it turned out there were multiple ways a person could gain access to the apartment. Test for gunpowder on Nisman’s hand, which would presumably suggest he pulled the trigger, came back negative—but the investigator says that could be because the bullet was a low caliber.

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner first agreed that it was a suicide, but then changed her opinion and said it was likely foul play. However, she thinks it’s a set up and someone in the intelligence agency carried it out in an effort to frame her.

Kirchner is now dismantling the intelligence agency, and the journalist who first reported Nisman’s death has fled the country.

It all sounds like a scene from The Untouchables, and it surprisingly has remained a back-page item.

This story is sensational, seemingly made for cable and primetime news, yet for the past week each time I turn my television on this is not the story I see.

It should be everywhere, because this is newsworthy. This is not just a crazy story out of Argentina that only matters to Argentinians and the community impacted by the 1994 attack—it matters for U.S. policy.

The U.S. government is trying to negotiate a deal over Iran’s nuclear program; Congress is debating whether to pass legislation that would increase sanctions if those talks fail—but only a few people think it’s worthwhile to discuss the suspicious death of a prosecutor who was planning to present potentially damaging evidence of the Iranian governments involvement in Argentina’s biggest terrorist attack?

It is absurd, almost farcical, behavior.

It would be irresponsible to accuse Iran, or anyone—an individual or a government—of murder without concrete evidence. No one should do that, but that doesn’t mean the issue should be ignored. This warrants a lot of questions, and it’s problematic that both the media and the U.S. government are largely acting as if it doesn’t.

The Iranian government has a history of carrying out sophisticated assassinations.

In 1991, Shapour Bakhtiar, a former Iranian Prime Minister and advocate for democracy, was strangled and stabbed in his Paris home. French investigators tied the plot to “government ministries in Tehran.”

Ultimately, Bakhtiar’s murder was one of many tied to the Iranian government. Most of them occurred over 20 years ago, but the Ayatollah—the man who actually controls the country—is the same guy from back then. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989.

There are two logical questions to ask immediately after a possible homicide, especially one that appears to be calculated:

1. Who would have a motive to do it?

2. Who would have the means to carry it out?

In the case of Nisman’s suspicious death, Iran is a potential answer for both.

We don’t know what happened to Nisman, but U.S. officials should have been the first to press Argentina and Iran about it. They are failing to do that, and the media is failing to adequately call them on it.

The disregard of Nisman’s death is negligent, in general, because we know the Iranian government’s past. It’s especially negligent to ignore when there are currently ongoing negotiations between the U.S. government and Tehran—and that should be an incredibly obvious statement.

]]>Argentinian Reporter Flees to Israel Following Prosecutor’s Murderhttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentinian-reporter-flees-to-israel-following-prosecutors-murder/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentinian-reporter-flees-to-israel-following-prosecutors-murder/#respondMon, 26 Jan 2015 17:41:04 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=384157The Argentinian reporter who first reported on the suspicious death of a prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Argentina arrived in Israel over the weekend after leaving the country out of fear for his safety, according to reports.

]]>The Argentinian reporter who first reported on the suspicious death of a prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Argentina arrived in Israel over the weekend after leaving the country out of fear for his safety, according to reports.

The reporter, Damian Pachter, was the first to write about the death of Argentinian prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who had been investigating Iran’s role in the deadly bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Nisman was found dead last week under suspicious circumstances, with many believing he was murdered either by Iran or the Argentinian government.

Pachter told media outlets that he fled his home country to Israel due to concerns over his safety.

Upon landing at Ben-Gurion International Airport, Pachter told Reuters that he had left Argentina in fear for his life.

“The Argentinean government persuade [sic] me because of my news report regarding the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who died in unresolved way last week, so I was the first who report on that and now I am kind of suffering the consequences of that,” said Pachter.

“They [the Argentine government] use their security forces to chase me and I just had to move fast and quick, as fast as I could in order to get into a plan and just leave the country right away.”

]]>http://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentinian-reporter-flees-to-israel-following-prosecutors-murder/feed/0Argentine Prosecutor: Rouhani Involved in AMIA Bombing Decisionhttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentine-prosecutor-rouhani-involved-in-amia-bombing-decision/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentine-prosecutor-rouhani-involved-in-amia-bombing-decision/#respondMon, 26 Jan 2015 16:10:40 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=384061An Argentine prosecutor who died mysteriously last week told a reporter prior to his death that he had evidence tying Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.

]]>An Argentine prosecutor who died mysteriously last week told a reporter prior to his death that he had evidence tying Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.

The WashingtonFree Beacon first reported that Rouhani was part of the secretive Iranian government committee that approved the AMIA bombing, according to witness testimony included in a 500-page indictment written by the late Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was appointed to investigate the attack.

The bombing, which killed 85 and injured hundreds, is believed to have been authorized by Iran and carried out by its terror proxy Hezbollah. Nisman’s indictment implicated numerous high-profile Iranian officials in the attack and prompted Interpol to issue “red notices” for their arrests.

Nisman, who was found shot in the head in his apartment just hours before he was scheduled to provide testimony against Argentine President Cristina Kirchner last Monday, had denied the Free Beacon story in 2013 and suggested that Rouhani played no role in the attack.

“There is no evidence, according to the AMIA case file, of the involvement of Hassan Rouhani in any terrorist attack,” Nisman told the Times of Israel in response to the article.

However, Nisman said privately he had evidence that Rouhani was involved in the decision to authorize the bombing, according to Miami Herald reporter Andres Oppenheimer.

Nisman told Oppenheimer that Rouhani was on the committee that green-lighted the attack. “Nobody is pointing out that Rouhani participated in the decision of the AMIA attack,” wrote Nisman in a July 2013 email.

“In several telephone conversations and email exchanges I had with Nisman over the past three years, the prosecutor told me that Rouhani was among the top Iranian officials who had ‘participated in the decision’ to bomb the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires,” Oppenheimer wrote after Nisman’s death.

Sources told the Free Beacon in 2013 that Nisman was under intense political pressure from the Argentine government due to his AMIA investigation. Argentina has worked to build relations with Iran under President Kirchner.

Earlier this month, Nisman accused Kirchner of impeding investigations into Iran’s role in the AMIA bombing in exchange for lucrative trade deals. Nisman was found dead from a gunshot to the head in his apartment hours before he was scheduled to present evidence of his allegations against Kirchner to Argentine lawmakers.

Kirchner initially said the death was a suicide. She now says she believes Nisman was killed by a “rogue” government agent.